Global Resource Distribution Committee/Proposal

Proposal: Establishing an Experimental Global Resource Distribution Committee

Executive Summary of Proposed Changes to Resource Distribution

• By January 2025, an interim global body will be created that has responsibility and decision-making authority over the allocation of Wikimedia grants currently disbursed under the Community Fund. In coordination with the Wikimedia Foundation, it will have the authority to adjust current grantmaking structures to better fit the evolving needs of the movement, including modifying how regions are categorized, and establishing global or thematic funding goals.
• As a starting point, this body will comprise individuals who have served at least one term on a Regional Funds Committee, thus ensuring global representation from each of 8 global regions.
• Regional Funds Committees will evolve to better represent their communities, by being predominantly selected by their communities (versus currently being appointed by the Wikimedia Foundation).
• Because the Board of Trustees holds ultimate financial and fiduciary obligations, they are ultimately responsible for approving how much of the Foundation’s budget will be made available for grants distribution, and the Board will seek the recommendations and insights of this body for proposals.

Full Proposal

The Wikimedia Foundation will, by January 2025, 1) establish an Interim Global Resource Distribution Committee (GRDC); and 2) amend the Regional Funds Committees selection process to ensure mutual accountability for funds distribution between the Foundation and communities.

Anchored in the principle of subsidiarity, this mutual accountability ensures that communities themselves decide who is accountable for funds distribution in their respective regions, and that communities and the Wikimedia Foundation are jointly responsible for ensuring equitable funds distribution across the movement.

The committee will be established as a two-year learning experiment, with a plan to engage in a further community consultation once the results of this 2-year experiment are completed and shared publicly in 2027. The Committee will provide interim updates to the Board and Wikimedia communities and affiliates.  

Purpose & Roles and Responsibilities

Global Resource Distribution Committee

The Wikimedia Foundation will create a volunteer-driven global body (working title: the Global Resource Distribution Committee, GRDC) to set the Wikimedia Movement resource distribution strategy, and make recommendations to the Wikimedia Foundation for funding regional and thematic activities and initiatives in support of the mission of the Wikimedia movement. Composed of 16 members, selected by each of 8 regions, the GRDC shall be established by January 2025. Their decisions will inform the first round of regional and thematic funding decisions in the Foundation’s 2025-2026 fiscal year.

The Global Resource Distribution Committee will be responsible for:

• Setting resource distribution related policies, strategy and standards for the movement, including what type of activities and / or entities the movement will collectively support, and global diversity and equity policies.
• Setting regional, thematic and other funding allocations, including principles for distributing funds between regions and regular allocations to thematic and / or ad hoc (e.g., movement strategy) funding envelopes. If needed, determine whether changes to Regional Funds Committees must be enacted, or whether new Funds Committees (e.g., thematic) need to be created.
• Determining movement-wide goals and metrics, including top-line outcomes the movement is seeking to achieve in both regions and thematics (e.g., increase in content by region, alignment to global education standards) and relevant equity metrics.
• Coordinating resource distribution decision-making with the Affiliations Committee, or another global body responsible for the support of the Wikimedia Movement Organizations ecosystem (if such a body is created in the future).

Because the Board of Trustees holds ultimate financial and fiduciary obligations, the BOT is responsible for approving how much of the Foundation’s budget will be made available for grants distribution, and will seek the recommendations and insights of this body for proposals.

Regional Funds Committees

Eight Regional Funds Committees, composed of seven members each, shall be established and their selection process codified by January 2025.

In line with the Movement’s principle of subsidiarity, Regional Funds Committees will have discretion over the strategies, goals, and funding processes implemented in their regions, so long as they are compliant with the policies and principles adopted by the Global Resource Distribution Committee and comply with relevant legal/good governance best practices. The Regional Funds Committees will be responsible for:

• Setting regional strategy, standards, goals and metrics, in line with the policies set by the GRDC. Following the principle of subsidiarity, this may be done by the committee itself, or they may decide to facilitate a community process to articulate their regional strategy and common goals. Each region may decide to do this differently.
• Setting regional approach to funding distribution. Following the principle of subsidiarity, each region may decide which approach they will use to allocate movement funds, e.g., decide whether distribution in their region is done in the form of grants to proposals (status quo) or funds are allocated based on other criteria such as population, community size, community need, etc.
• Oversight of grants funding, where applicable. If the Regional Funds Committee decides to use a grants process for funds distribution, the committee will have the responsibility to design an application process, to review and decide on specific proposals, and to review grant outcomes.

Proposed Pilot Structure & Composition

Global Resource Distribution Committee (2 representatives per region = 16 total)
Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Funds Committee (NEW) (7 Representatives)	ESEAP Regional Funds Committee (7 Representatives)	N&W Europe Regional Funds Committee (7 Representatives)	South Asia Regional Funds Committee (7 Representatives)
LAC Regional Funds Committee (7 Representatives)	MENA Regional Funds Committee (NEW) (7 Representatives)	North America Regional Funds Committee (7 Representatives)	CEECA Regional Funds Committee (7 Representatives)

Composition & Terms

Each Regional Funds Committee will be composed of 7 members, selected by their communities, who will serve for 2-year terms, for a maximum of 2 terms. Once a member has served on a Regional Funds Committee for at least 1 full term, they are eligible to be nominated by their community to serve on the Global Resource Distribution Committee, where they could serve for a maximum of two 3-year terms.  

Member Selection & Eligibility

Selection Process

To ensure that those who make decisions about funding are accountable to the regions they represent, beginning in January 2025, there will be community elections where voters (to be determined) from each region will elect seven representatives to their Regional Funds Committee.

Each Regional Funds Committee will elect or select among themselves their region’s two representatives to the Global Resource Distribution Committee. In the event of a vacancy on a regional committee, the committee may select a replacement to serve out the remainder of the vacant term.

Eligibility to Serve on the Global and Regional Funds Committees

Candidates for the Regional Committees must reside in the region or be a citizen of a country represented in the region for which they are running. They must comply with a minimum threshold of Trust and Safety standard to be determined (e.g., cannot be Banned).  

Conflict of Interest and Universal Code of Conduct

Candidates and members of the Regional Committees and the Global Resource Distribution Committee must comply with a Conflict of Interest policy and the Wikimedia movement’s Universal Code of Conduct.